We can create a more sustainable, cleaner and safer world by making wiser energy choices.
------ Robert Alan.

So we decided to take up the project on “Energy Consumption During the Days at the Eco-camp”.

Meaning of “Energy”- The power that comes from coal, electricity, gas etc that is used for producing heat, driving machines.

We were already briefed by our teachers how to go about with the project.
We were given few trigger questions which helped us to complete the project on time.

WATER CONSUMED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1: For brushing - Eight hundred ml per student.
2: For bathing - one bucket of hot water of twelve litres.
one bucket of cold water of twelve litres.

3: For drinking - eight to ten glasses of water per student.

We were fortunate that no taps were leaking at the camp site.
We conducted a comparative study of the total energy consumed at the campsite: The table is as follows:


Source of Energy Quantity Consumed
1.Electricity from the board -2250 Watts
2. Petrol(vehicle) -12 litres
3. Diesel -1 liters
4. CNG
5. Kerosene(for running the generator) -40 litres for 2 days
6. Coal (for boiling the water) -30 kgs for 3 days
7. Wood (for burning) -40 kgs for 2 days
8. Animal Sources
9. Solar Energy
10. Wind
11. LPG 2CYLINDERS OF 15KGS each was used for 2 days so total 30 kgs of LPG was used
12. Torches 1 pair of pencil batteries for 3 hours each night
13. Water 50 litres for three days per student



The generator was approximately used for two hours in the evening for the bulbs and three hours for pumping the water from the well to the tank.

The coal was burnt for approximately two and half hours for boiling water for baths every day.

The grinder which usually consumes lot of energy are not used at the camp site.

There were no light in tents.

There is a solar panel at the camp site but the panels could not be used as it was raining.

There are showers in the bathrooms but we preferred to use taps for taking baths as there is lot of wastage of water when we used showers.


We realized we could have saved more energy during our camp as the resources are getting depleted.

We found out that the urban Indians purchase 14-20 million tones of firewood every year, worth Rs. 500 crores – this is more money than the government spent on afforestation in the 30 years from 1950-1980.

The intensity of energy extraction, production and use of these resources has resulted in the destruction of the environment through pollution.
The consumption rate of these resources is twice their production.

We should go for renewable sources of energy. We would like to share a case study on “Bio-energy”!!!

An energy self sufficient taluka model was developed by NARI ( Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute) in Phaltan taluka in Maharashtra. It was found that Phaltan taluka would require about 13X 108 MJ (Mega Joules = 10,00,000 Joules) of electricity and about 2.6 crore litres of petroleum products ( diesel, petrol and kerosene).

It was established that all his energy could easily be produced by biomass resources produced in the taluka through biomass based power plants (i.e production of ethanol
from sweet sorghum) existing distilleries, pyrolytic oil production from agricultural residues and energy plantations. Electricity from biomass – based power plants would replace electricity supplied by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, while ethanol and pyrolytic oil would replace liquid petroleum products. The NARI study showed that with the capital inputs of Rs.300crores, Phaltan taluka model can produce wealth of Rs.220 crores per year and provide employment to 30,000 people year around.